I sat beside Cody as he slept in the hospital bed. I was exhausted, and the warmth of the dimly lit room was doing its best to lull me to sleep. I refused to rest because I wanted to wait for Cody to wake up.
He had a concussion and would have to miss two weeks. After he cleared the concussion protocol, there would be a gradual increase in ice time. He probably couldn’t play a game for at least three weeks. The doctor assured me the concussion was the primary injury. Cody moved his hands and feet in his sleep, which assured them that he hadn’t suffered a spinal injury.
I knew he’d be pissed about the required rest. Cody had worked his ass off and to have to sit out for the first month of his last season with the Vipers was crushing. I knew how much the team meant to him.
The fate of my hockey future was to be determined. I’d been with the Vipers for only two months and caused a fight that took two referees, both head coaches, and every assistant coach at the arena to stop.
Needless to say, I fucked up.
Cody stirred, and my heart accelerated. I dimmed the lights overhead a bit more as he batted his eyes open. He scrunched his eyes, scanning the room.
“Are we at the hospital?” he asked.
“Yup.”
Cody tried to sit up, but I stopped him. “You gotta lie down, angel. They want you to spend the night. Hank’s driving to Massachusetts now because the doctors think you’d be better off in a car than a bus.”
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
I brushed my fingers along the smooth skin of his arm. He looked so delicate like this. My protective instincts kicked into overdrive. “Some fucker plowed you from behind. You went headfirst into the boards.”
“Plowed me from behind. I thought that was your job.” His wicked grin made my heart swell. “So that’s why my head feels like someone took a sledgehammer to it.”
“You’re concussed, angel. You gotta sit out for a couple weeks at least.”
Cody released an annoyed groan as he rocked his head against the pillow. “Please tell me we miraculously won somehow.”
“I don’t know if we won.”Here we go.
His brown eyes grew wide. “Wow,” he tried to sit up, but I didn’t let him. He grumbled his disapproval, then said, “Did you leave the game to be with me?”
Alright. Just have to come out with it. “Yes. I was also kicked out of the game.”
I knew he’d shoot that glare of his at me. Cody had a way of scolding you without saying a word. A trait he’d picked up from Jill. “Why?”
I started picking at the cuticles on my right hand. “The guy who hit you, I may have…beat him up.”
“What?”
“And by ‘may have’, I mean I definitely beat the ever loving shit out of him.”
He pulled the sheet over his head and sank deeper into the hospital bed. “Rafael, why?”
“Because he hurt you.”
Cody slowly slid down the covers, revealing his exhausted face. “That is really fucking sweet, but you shouldn’t have done that. Things like this,” he motioned to his head, “happen in hockey. You can’t protect me from it.”
“I can try,” I protested.
“Not at the risk of your hockey career. Rafael, you’re amazing. You could go pro.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “I know all of this, but he fucking fist-pumped a teammate as they carted you away. He had it coming.” My throat tightened as the image of Cody’s eyes rolling in the back of his head came back to me. “I was just so fucking mad. Nothing can happen to you. Nothing.”
Cody’s eyes softened. “Rafael, you can’t control that.”
Fuck that. Yes, I could. I’d make sure nothing happened to Cody. The world was trying to rip him away from me—first the lake, now this. I burned with rage. I’d burn the whole fucking world to the ground if something happened to Cody. “I can do my best, though. I can’t lose you, Cody.”
“You’re not going to lose me.”
